217 research outputs found
Capacity building for Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Final report. Indo- Norwegian pilot project on capacity building in biodiversity informatics for enhanced decision making, improved nature conservation and sustainable development.
No full textHanssen, F. (editor), Mathur, V.B. (editor), Athreya, V., Barve, V., Bhardwaj, R., Boumans, L., Cadman, M., Chavan, V., Ghosh, M., Lindgaard, A., Lofthus, Ø., Mehlum, Pandav, B., Punjabi, G. A., F., González Talaván, A., Talukdar, G., Valland, N. and Vang, R. Capacity building for Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Final report. Indo- Norwegian pilot project on capacity building in biodiversity informatics for enhanced decision making, improved nature conservation and sustainable development. - NINA Report 1079. 116 pp. Dette pilotprosjektet har vært koordinert av Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning (NINA) i nært
samarbeid med Wildlife Insitutute of India (WII), Artsdatabanken, Naturhistorisk Museum ved
Universitetet i Oslo, Wildlife Conservation Society- India Program (WCS) og Centre for Wildlife
Studies (CWF) i India. Prosjektet er finansiert av den Norske Regjering med støtte fra den og
India.
Prosjektet har samarbeidet med Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) og har
implementert flere av deres kapasitetsbyggende verktøy, standarder og tjenester. I tillegg er WII
og Naturhistorisk Museum nasjonale GBIF- noder. Prosjektet er nært knyttet til indiske og
internasjonale strategier for utvikling av biodiversitetsinfrastruktur.
Prosjektet har fokusert på nasjonale brukerbehov, viltkamerametodikk, dataforvaltning, åpen
datadeling og barrierer for åpen datadeling. Seks casestudier har vist hvordan biodiversitetsinformatikk,
bruk av viltkamera, datamobilisering og strategier for deling av data kan bidra til
forbedrede beslutningsprosesser. Dette har ført til en bedre forståelse for bruk av viltkamera,
occupancy-modellering, DNA-analyser, artsutbredelse, rovvilt/samfunn konflikter, effekter av
menneskelig aktivitet på ville dyr, habitatrestaurering, behov knyttet til forvaltning av tigre, samt
etterforskning av ulovlig jakt på tiger.
Prosjektet har gjennomført en mindre datarepatrieringsøvelse ved de norske naturhistoriske museene.
Kapasitetsbyggingskomponenten i dette arbeidet overfor internasjonale museumssamlinger
ligger primært i beskrivelsen av hvordan repatrierte data kan mobiliseres gjennom GBIF.
WII har utviklet en nasjonal database og en webportal for mobilisering av viltkameradata. Dette
utviklingsarbeidet er et viktig skritt i retning av å utvikle et nasjonalt åpent system for forvaltning
av viltkamerabilder og tilhørende metadata. Prosjektet har også utviklet en Best Practice Guide
(BPG) for publisering av biodiversitetsdata avledet fra viltkamerabilder. Denne guiden vil bli vedlikeholdt
av GBIF i fremtiden.
Dette prosjektet har vist høy relevans i forhold til de kapasitetsbyggingsbehov som er identifisert
av IPBES. Som prosjektet viser er det store internasjonale synergier innen kapasitetsbygging
knyttet til biodiversitetsinformatikk, bruk av viltkamera, datamobilisering, datarepatriering, dataforvaltning
og forbedrede strategier for datadeling. I avslutningsfasen av dette pilotprosjektet har
prosjektpartnerne bestemt seg for å se etter nye samarbeidsmuligheter under IPBES
FINANCING COMMUNITY FACILITIES: A CASE STUDY OF THE PARKS AND RECREATIONAL GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND MEASURE OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
No full textThis study of the City of San Jose’s Parks and Recreation General Obligation (GO) Bond Measure seeks to identify the politics-, management-, and planning-related lessons learned by the City as it developed its community facilities using the GO bonds proceeds. The study finds that these lessons include: be conservative in what you promise the residents; be prepared for changes in economic environment by identifying supplementary funding sources should the primary source not yield adequate funds; make sure that the jurisdiction is organizationally capable of handling the increased workload; and prepare detailed project plans prior to the bond issuance.Community Infrastructure and Services; Municipal Bonds; Public Finance
Killing the straw man: Does BICEP prove inflation at the GUT scale?
No full textabstract: The surprisingly large value of r, the ratio of power in tensor to scalar density perturbations in the CMB reported by the BICEP2 Collaboration, if confirmed, provides strong evidence for Inflation at the GUT scale. While the Inflationary signal remains the best motivated source, a large value of r alone would still allow for the possibility that a comparable gravitational wave background might result from a self ordering scalar field (SOSF) transition that takes place later at somewhat lower energy. We find that even without detailed considerations of the predicted BICEP signature of such a transition, simple existing limits on the isocurvature contribution to CMB anisotropies would definitively rule out a contribution of more than 5% to r = 0.2. We also present a general relation for the allowed fractional SOSF contribution to r as a function of the ultimate measured value of r. These results point strongly not only to an inflationary origin of the BICEP2 signal, if confirmed, but also to the fact that if the GUT scale is of order 10[superscript 16] GeV then either the GUT transition happens before Inflation or the Inflationary transition and the GUT transition must be one and the same.The final version of this article, as published in Physics Letters B, can be viewed online at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269314005486?via%3Dihu
HYPOXIA, HABITATS AND COMPETITION: DETERMINANTS OF ELEVATIONAL DISTRIBUTION IN HIMALAYAN BIRDS.
No full textAn important aspect of montane bird ecology is that most species have limited elevational distribution. We have a very poor understanding however, of the mechanisms that drive this limited elevational distribution in birds. In my dissertation, I investigated hypobaric hypoxia, interspecific competition and habitat loss as drivers of distribution in montane birds in the Himalayas. The first chapter is an introduction to the topic of elevational distribution in birds and the motivation behind the following chapters. In the second chapter we show that annual elevational movement patterns of Himalayan birds predict their strategy to cope with hypobaric hypoxia. We demonstrate that while elevational migrants increase hemoglobin concentration by increasing the volume of erythrocytes in their blood, sedentary high-elevation residents increase hemoglobin concentration by increasing mean cellular hemoglobin concentration in a comparative study of 15 passerine species. In the third chapter, I used song playback and feeder experiments to test the role of interspecific competition in driving the elevational distribution of green-backed and cinereous tits in the western Himalayas. I show that although green-backed tits are behaviorally dominant over cinereous tits, cinereous tits live at high elevations by occupying habitats vacated by green-backed tits. In the fourth chapter, I used the results from the behavioral experiments to predict the spatial distribution of cinereous and green-backed tits in a landscape. Using occupancy modeling, we show that green-backed tits are dependent on forests for breeding sites at their elevational lower distributional limit and might be adversely affected by habitat loss. Cinereous tits, a common low elevation species on the other hand, occupy human-modified habitats and are likely expanding their elevational range upslope due to anthropogenic habitat modifications. In the fifth chapter, we undertook the first population ecology study on the green-backed tit in the Himalayas. Using a genetic blind test, we show that green-backed tit males have broader breast stripes than females. We also show that males and females have different beak shapes in winter but there is no significant difference in beak shape in summer due to male beaks becoming shorter
Elite Dominance and Under-investment in Mass Education: Disparity in the Social Development of the Indian States, 1960-92
No full textInter- and intra-state disparities in levels of literacy rates in India are striking, especially for the marginalized groups of women and low caste population. The present paper offers an explanation of this disparate development in terms of elite dominance that discriminates against the minority groups of people and systematically under-invests in mass education. We experiment with various indirect economic and political measures of elite dominance. Results based on the Indian state-level data for the period 1960-92 suggest that higher share of land held by the top 5% of the population (a) lowers spending on education as well as total developmental spending and (b) increases total nondevelopmental spending. Greater proportion of minority representations (female and low caste members) in the ruling government however fails to have any perceptible impact on development (including education) spending in our sample. This analysis also identifies land reform and poverty alleviation as two important policy instruments to erode the initial disadvantage of the marginalised people.
Elite dominance and under-investment in mass education: Disparity in the social development of the Indian states, 1960-92
No full textLiteracy rates continue to be strikingly low among women and low caste
population compared to the general population not only in any Indian state, but more so
in the worst performing ones. The present paper offers an explanation of this disparate
development in terms of the hypothesis of elite dominance that discriminates against
women and low-caste people and systematically under-invests in mass education. We
experiment with various indirect economic and political measures of elite dominance.
Results based on the Indian state-level data for the period 1960-92 suggest that higher
share of land held by the top 5% of the population (a) lowers spending on education as
well as total developmental spending and (b) increases total non-developmental spending.
(c) Greater proportion of minority representations (female and low caste members) in the
ruling government however fails to have any perceptible impact on both development
(including education) and non-development spending in our sample. (d) While underinvestment
in education by the elite is supported by the lack of demand for education
from the poorer population (who are often the marginalised people), greater initiatives of
the state to enact land reform legislations enhance the spending on education
Corridors at Crossroads: Linear Development-Induced Ecological Triage As a Conservation Opportunity
No full textThe transportation infrastructure of a nation forms the backbone of its economic growth and social development, and, as a developing country, India is no exception. However, with imperatives to improve connectivity for economic and social growth, ecological costs are often at stake. Roads, old and new, cut through protected forests and connecting habitats, resulting in a plethora of ecological effects. These may include the severing of natural corridors thereby compromising the role of landscapes as conservation units especially for landscape-dependent wild animal species. Consequent loss of biodiversity and ecosystems and decline in innumerable ecosystem services emanating from these natural reserves are other serious impacts. As India aspires for better, modern roads, the ecological concerns regarding many road upgradation projects have recently been the cause of disputes between the transportation sector and the conservation community. Delayed consideration of ecological concerns into linear development project planning leads to inadequate appropriation of funds needed for mitigating impacts of such developments. It is in these circumstances that the question of prioritizing areas and strategies for mitigation given limited mitigation funds arises. We examine the different facets to the debate of triage vis-à-vis conservation, development and mitigation planning in the transportation sector in a developing country context. We suggest that it is important and possible to secure investment towards conservation in areas outside the purview of legal protection through project mitigation costs and other mechanisms. We also make suggestions to avoid the ‘laissez-faire’ approach to linear development projects that is prevalent in India
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